This invention relates generally to lawn and leaf bag carts. More specifically, the invention relates to a portable, collapsible lawn and leaf bag cart having a flexible, resilient bag frame for supporting a lawn bag in a wide open condition and including means for locking a bag supporting platform of the cart in an extended position.
Generally speaking, collapsible carts for supporting flexible refuse bags in a wide open position are known to the prior art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,557 issued to R. E. Taylor on July 10, 1979, U.S. Pat. No. 3,041,026 issued to E. F. Wilson on June 10, 1962, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,754,771 issued to P. B. Shagoury on Aug. 28, 1973.
The Wilson patent discloses such a cart having a U-shaped back frame which includes an upper bight portion which serves as a handle and a pair of parallel extending legs with wheels attached to the lower ends thereof. The reference cart also includes a foldable bag supporting platform hingably attached to the lower ends of the legs of the back frame and an upper frame, called a sack hanger, which contains sharp prongs thereon on which the mouth portion of a sack can be impaled. Obviously, care must be exercised by the user to avoid being injured by these prongs. Also the integrity of the sack impaled on the prongs is seriously diminished, especially where flexible plastic bags are used.
The Taylor patent discloses a portable, collapsible cart having a foldable bag supporting platform hingably connected to the base of a back frame and an upper bag support frame hingably connected to an upper portion of the back frame. A bag is held in an open position on the platform by means of a plurality of clamps mounted on the upper bag support frame. The clamps are permanently attached to the bag support frame by chains to prevent them from becoming misplaced.
The patent to Shagoury shows a portable, collapsible bag cart having a back frame, a bag supporting platform hingably connected to a lower end portion of the back frame and a generally circular bag frame hingably connected to an upper end portion of the back frame. A bag supported on the platform is held in an open condition by wrapping a mouth portion of the bag over and around the circular bag frame and securing the bag thereto by means of flexible metal or plastic clips.
None of these prior art bag carts is adapted to carry a flexible bag held in an open position by a removable bag frame so that the bag can be removed from the cart and used while maintaining an open position and, thereafter, be placed back on the cart after being filled. Moreover, none of these prior art bag carts employs means to positively lock the bag supporting platform in an extended position by placing the upper bag frame in a bag carrying position.
By means of my invention, these and other difficulties encountered with prior art lawn and leaf bag carts are substantially eliminated.